


At Any Price

by Telaryn



Category: Leverage
Genre: Developing Relationship, Escape, Friends to Lovers, Hiding, Multi, On the Run, Past Violence, Recruitment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-13
Updated: 2015-01-13
Packaged: 2018-03-07 08:17:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3167912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Telaryn/pseuds/Telaryn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eliot learns he is wanted by people powerful enough to destroy everyone he loves.  But when you've been claimed by a hacker and a thief, going to ground isn't as easy as it used to be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	At Any Price

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ladyjax](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyjax/gifts).



> I hope you enjoy it ladyjax - thank you for playing with us this year!

It’s a call Eliot had lived in fear of ever since he agreed to stick around and be adopted by Nathan Ford, his merry band of thieves and their “us against the world quest”.

Signaling Parker and Hardison to go on without him, he answered his phone as bluntly as he dared. “What part of no are you missing, Vance? My dance card is full.”

His throat tightened around a burst of adrenaline as he recognized the concern in his old friend’s voice. _”You might think so Spencer, but I just got out of a meeting with half a dozen people who seem very interested in changing your mind on that score.”_ Eliot asked what few questions he dared, before agreeing to radio silence with Vance for the immediate future. _”I’m already putting my neck on the line letting you know that people like this are looking for you, Eliot. Don’t expect any more help.”_

“I didn’t ask,” was his automatic response, but he was already speaking to a dead line. Eliot stared at his phone for a long moment. Hardison had wired them all so securely into their smart phones that Eliot had started seeing the device as an extension of his will – as much a part of him as his hand or brain.

Now all he could see was threat. Every piece of electronic tech he owned was something the people coming after him could use to track him. _And them,_ his conscience whispered, prompting him to glance up after Hardison and Parker. This was _exactly_ the kind of badness he’d sworn to Sophie he would protect the others from “with his dying breath”.

 _You should tell them,_ he thought. Cutting and running without even giving them the first hint as to why felt like the coward’s way out, but deep down Eliot knew it was his only chance. These were the sorts of people who played contingency on contingency; even now there might be a net getting ready to close on all three of them.

Mind made up at last, Eliot dropped his phone on the sidewalk and ground the delicate piece of tech under his boot heel. Taking the comm out of his ear, he threw it as far away as he could manage. “Do the smart thing for once,” he muttered, risking one final look at his family. _Think me a coward. Think me the worst sort of traitor – whatever you need to do in order to let me go._  
************************************  
Ten minutes later, Parker and Hardison were staring down at the ruined bits of circuitry that had once been a state of the art smart phone. “Kidnapped?” Parker asked, turning around on the spot and trying to take in as much visual evidence as she could.

Hardison was focused on his tablet. “Surveillance in the area is spotty,” he said, “but I don’t see any cars entering or leaving the area in at least the last fifteen minutes. If he was taken, it was on foot.”

Parker studied the soft ground. “No evidence of a struggle. For anybody to get the best of him they would have to knock him unconscious. That means drag marks.”

Hardison looked doubtful. “Unless one of the people that took him was big enough to carry him.”

“He got a phone call,” Parker said, heading back towards the van. “That’s why he sent us on ahead. You need to tell me everything about that call – where it came from, what they talked about – everything.”

The two of them returned to the van at a jog. Hardison went immediately for his seat at the console, while Parker remained outside, watching for any hint of what had happened or what it meant. “There’s another reason he might have disappeared without saying anything,” she mused over the ticking sounds of Hardison’s keyboard.

“Noble sacrifice,” the hacker agreed grimly. “Have I mentioned lately how much I hate the whole ‘noble sacrifice’ gig?” Unplugging his headphones, he motioned Parker up into the van. The two of them listened as Colonel Vance warned Eliot about government types who were looking to recruit him for “something”.

“Okay,” Hardison whistled as his recording of the phone call ended. “I never thought I would hear Colonel Hard-Ass upset about something. That is “upset” right, and not some other kind of black ops weirdness?”

“That’s upset,” Parker agreed. “He’s got Eliot spooked too. That explains why he’s rabbited. He’s trying to protect us.” Reacting without thinking, she slammed her fist into the side of the van; making Hardison jump. “I hate it when people try to protect me without asking first.”

“So what are we gonna do about it?” Hardison demanded. Unlike Parker he was less concerned about Eliot’s attempts to protect them than he was insulted at the hitter believing there was anywhere on the planet he could vanish and Hardison would not be able to find him.

The thief’s expression was fierce. “Stand or fall, we change together.”  
***********************************************  
No matter how soft his life became, some instincts ran so deep they might as well have been carved on Eliot’s bones. It took him less than twenty minutes to hitch a ride to his nearest dead drop, where he retrieved a bag containing a change of clothes, a passport under the name of “Allan West”, a burner cell phone and a thousand dollars cash. He hopped on a city bus and changed routes twice before feeling safe enough to make his first call.

His first break came on learning that Jonah Quinn was at least in the same hemisphere. _“Canada,”_ his friend groaned. _“And not for the fishing either.”_

Keeping the conversation as brief as possible, Eliot let the other hitter know what he was facing and what he needed. _“Cut over to Montana before you make the border,”_ Quinn directed him. _“If they think you’re running they’re going to have every access point in a straight shot between Portland and Victoria covered. I’ll meet up with you where Montana 20 crosses the border; they’re not as sharp at that checkpoint.”_

After settling things with Quinn, Eliot was strongly tempted to check in with Parker and Hardison – make sure they understood that loyalty was a luxury they couldn’t afford to indulge right now. _Clean break is best,_ his conscience reminded him. Further contact would just be encouraging them to chase him.

Sticking to hitchhiking for the moment, Eliot rode another two towns north before stopping at a decent looking diner. _Back booth, sit facing the door…_ The old habits had never really left him, but the threat he was currently facing made him sharper than he’d been in years. He placed his order and settled in to wait.

After a couple of minutes, running scenarios in his mind started turning him in circles. He forced himself to exhale and focus on the here and now. He could control the future in very limited ways – his only reliable point of control was his immediate environment.

Narrowing his focus also allowed him to catch snippets of conversations from the surrounding booths; good information to have so that he knew what he would be up against if everything went completely pear shaped in the next half an hour.

_”Mom, they’re gross!”_

_”I probably shouldn’t have the fries. How about some cottage cheese instead?”_

_”What kills me is when the man thinks there’s some place on this earth he can go that we can’t find him.”_

Eliot froze, then let his head fall forward in defeat as he recognized the voice. “Dammit, Hardison!”  
****************************  
Now that their trap was sprung, Parker had to admit that Hardison’s push for them to confront Eliot in public was far more satisfying than waylaying him on the highway with his thumb out. “You don’t understand!” he hissed as they joined him in his booth and Hardison asked their waitress to transfer their orders to this location.

“CIA Black Ops is hunting you for a mission,” Hardison said matter-of-factly, staring the hitter down. “Unlike your friend Colonel Vance they don’t take no for an answer, so you cut and run hoping to keep them from targeting me and Parker to force your cooperation.” His grin wasn’t pleasant. “For my next trick I’ll tell you where you’re headed, who you’re meeting and when.”

“We’re stronger together,” Parker said. “Not to mention, do you really think leaving the country would keep people on the order of the CIA from messing with us if they really want you?”

She knew fear was the main thing keeping Eliot’s furious expression firmly in place. “This could mean burning everything,” he said, once their food had been brought and they were at least relatively alone again. “Going underground maybe for years. All Vance was able to tell me was that they wanted me – he didn’t dare ask what for.”

“It’s already burnt,” Parker said. She was grateful Hardison hadn’t complained about that part of it. Plans to disappear were always the first thing put into place whenever they relocated. “Nate and Sophie have been alerted – they know not to come back to Portland unless we give the all clear.”

“Sophie says get your head out of your ass, by the way,” Hardison added. “This isn’t what she meant when she told you to look out for us.”

“Once we’re in the clear,” Parker resumed, “you and Hardison will be able to figure out what this mission is and what we need to do about it.” Taking up her knife and fork, she dug into her pancakes; the matter settled.

Hardison and Eliot meekly followed her lead.  
*******************************  
They drove another three towns worth of distance before Eliot felt safe enough to chance a motel room just off the highway. “Quinn’s not going to be at the rendezvous until late tomorrow,” he told the others. “It’s either stop now or stop there and here we’ve still got time for a course correction if we’re being followed.”

Once they loaded their meager belongings into the room they had been assigned, Hardison set to making sure they weren’t being followed. Eliot had to admit as he watched the hacker work that it was nice not having to carry the entire load himself. Hardison would always be able to handle covering their trail better than he ever would.

“I still think you guys are making a mistake throwing in with me on this,” he said as Parker draped herself around his neck and shoulders from behind. “Seriously – just say the word and I’ll go.”

“You’re getting bo-ring,” Parker groaned. Nestling her face into his shoulder, she kissed the side of his neck. “You belong to us.” She glanced up at Hardison, who was still focused on his work. “Really you both belong to me, because Nate put me in charge.”

Smiling in spite of all the fear weighing him down, Eliot said, “I don’t know Hardison – sounds like we got the raw end of the deal.”

Without looking up, the hacker said, “Man, you ain’t telling me anything I don’t already know.” Shutting his laptop, Hardison got smoothly to his feet and came over to stand in front of them. Looking down at Eliot, his eyes full of emotion, he said, “Don’t you _ever_ run out on us like that again.” He reached out with a trembling hand to brush the hair back from Eliot’s forehead. “We deserve better than to be set aside like that and you know it.”

Catching the hacker’s hand in his, Eliot pressed a kiss to the younger man’s palm. “Don’t ask me to stop looking out for you two. It’s my job to keep you safe, and however I need to do that I will.”


End file.
